Summer has been relatively quiet in terms of roster changes across the Western pro scene, but yesterday we saw Europe make some noise. Kikis was transferred from G2 to Fnatic, who benched Gamsu, xPeke was relieved of his ADC duties by a player named Toaster, and finally, H2K announced the return of Forg1ven (as a sub).
Fnatic Replaces Gamsu with Kikis
Fnatic has kicked – not benched – Gamsu off their League of Legends team. That is an important distinction to make. Fnatic had this to say about Gamsu in their official statement:
It comes with a heavy heart that we must part ways with Gamsu. However, it has become clear to us that our organisational goals and ideals are not aligned. At Fnatic, our priority is performing at the highest level whilst simultaneously securing the best possible future for our organisation. Following an evaluation with the whole team, Fnatic and Gamsu have mutually decided to part ways. Our management team will work hard to support Gamsu, making sure he can continue his career as a professional gamer, wherever he decides to go.
Thank you Gamsu for everything you have done for the team! We wish you the best of luck in the future.
— 이다윤 FNC Spirit (@FNC_Spirit) July 12, 2016
Gamsu was rumored to be apart of a ‘package deal’ with Spirit at the beginning of last year before the pair were signed by Fnatic. Spirit sent these tweets shortly before Fnatic’s roster change was announced:
I dont know this happen
i'm extreamly sad— 이다윤 FNC Spirit (@FNC_Spirit) July 11, 2016
So sad
— 이다윤 FNC Spirit (@FNC_Spirit) July 12, 2016
Gamsu released a tweet of his own following the Fnatic statement:
I just want to say that My game play dosent really effect for leving team.
— Noh YoungJin (@Gamsulol) July 12, 2016
The wording of Fnatic’s statement together with Gamsu’s tweet leads me to believe this was a motivation/practice issue. There was no mention of communication problems, and Gamsu himself claims his removal from the roster doesn’t have anything to do with his game play.
Typically teams are more prone to benching under-performing players rather than kicking them off the team. Kikis is likely a lateral move from Gamsu. All signs point to out of game issues.
Fnatic fans should be happy with this move. It shows Fnatic management are willing to be pragmatic, doing anything they can to potentially improve their team. Regardless of how well Kikis performs on Fnatic, the organization is showing they still have the drive to be the best in the EU LCS.
H2K Forg1ven: He’s Back (Kind Of)
H2K released the above video to announce the return of H2K Forg1ven… as a substitute. This came as a surprise to all H2K fans considering the events that took place following Forg1ven’s departure from H2K. Just one month ago Vander claimed “If Forg1ven comes back I will leave H2K“.
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It is believed Forg1ven will remain as a substitute unless current AD carry Freeze has his current wrist conditions worsen, or the team continues to under perform. This is an interesting turn of events for the notorious Greek AD carry who was kicked from Origen after playing only 4 games due to motivation issues.
OG Toaster Replaced xPeke in the ADC Role
It’s back to the bench for xPeke. After subbing into the AD carry role since week 3 of Summer, xPeke will return to the mid/ADC substitute position. Here’s what Origen had to say about finally recruiting a natural ADC:
As you all know, xPeke was training hard to try to reach the best possible level as ADC but, with our results and, being yesterday the last day we had left according to RIOT rules, we have been forced to enroll new players in our team roster.
We have enrolled Zhergoth as our sub for TOP. He is training hard just in case we need him in any moment but our official TOP is and will be Soaz. We trust him, we all know his ability, and he is the kind of player that even in the worst moments can win games on his own.
Toaster will play ADC position. He inspires us enough confidence to play this role officially and we know he will work hard to fit in the team as quick as possible and get the victories we need.
xPeke will be sub for ADC and Mid so we will maybe watch him playing some games.
We thanks all these players that want to be part of Origen and welcome them!
It’s safe to say we can ignore the addition of Zhergoth as a top lane substitute. There is little to no chance Origen, in its current capacity, would ever bench SoAZ for any reason.
There’s not a whole lot of information available on the newly recruited Augustas “Toaster” Ruplys. According to Gamepedia, Toaster is from the United Kingdom and has experience playing for teams Team Infused and FM eSports.
The news of Origen’s roster changes also come on the same day 4 members of Origen’s social media/web staff walked out on them. As if Origen didn’t have enough on their plate already.
